Elecronics and Launchers

I'm not really an expert on electronics, but I try not to let that stop me! I do have a background in computer engineering, so I know enough to be dangerous, and I'm also lucky enough to work with several people who are very talented with electronics. And they're nice enough to listen to me rant and wave my hands about my latest project and answer my questions.

Mostly, the rocketry-related electronics I've been involved with are related to launch controllers... which is hardly rocket science! But, they're fun to design and build, and I'm interested in designing more reliable and safer controllers for high-power rocketry. I have a number of ideas floating around in my head for building a really nice range controller capable of managing, say, 24 pads at a regional launch.

In the meantime, I've amused myself by designing a 6-pad relay controller that was built for my kids' Cub Scout pack. It was a lot of fun, and way too expensive! I'm working on getting plans and schematics together if anyone else is interested in going completely overboard on a launch controller project!

My (then) 10 year old son designed and built a simple controller, for a school science fair project. It's basically the equivalent of an Estes Electron Beam controller, and we regularly use it for launcing Estes motors. It has successfully launched a number of composite motors on Copperhead igniters, but I don't recommend it for that :-)

I'm currently working on a new single-pad relay controller. This one will self-store in a plastic tool box, and have several safety features.

Some people prefer to use a 6-Volt controller for Estes style black powder motors, and a 12-Volt controller for composite motors. I think 12 Volts is fine for either, but that's another argument :-) You can have the best of both worlds by using two 7.2 Volt R/C car battery packs with a switch to select between 7.2 and 14.4 Volts. How? Check out this schematic.